How David Bouvier became one of Kentucky's most important players

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If you had to check the Kentucky football roster to determine who the player who caught each of the Wildcats’ first two passing touchdowns this season was, you probably were not alone.

Even senior wide receiver David Bouvier’s longtime friends and family might have done a doubletake when they heard his name on the broadcast.

Because the name used to be pronounced differently.

“When I was a freshman in college they kept saying Boo-vee-ay,” the Lexington Catholic alumnus said. “We said Bo-veer in high school and everything, but I wouldn’t correct anyone because I was just a shy freshman. Boo-vee-ay stuck, and I just rolled with it.”

Wide Receiver David Bouvier, a senior from Lexington, makes a catch during practice Tuesday afternoon in Lexington.

With five catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns through two games, Bouvier is making sure fans know his name now.

UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran called him the offense’s MVP in camp, shortly after he was awarded a scholarship by UK coach Mark Stoops. Then in the season opener against Central Michigan, Bouvier caught Kentucky’s only passing touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 21-20 lead just before halftime.

When quarterback Terry Wilson scrambled toward the sideline to elude pressure on Kentucky’s opening drive at Florida, it was Bouvier who had the presence of mind to extend his intermediate route by running down the field into the end zone, where Wilson found him for a 29-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

“I had no doubt that if given the chance he would do the things that he’s doing,” said Bill Letton, Bouvier’s former coach at Lexington Catholic.

Letton, who now serves as the associate head coach at Walton High School in Mareitta, Georgia, remembers a UK football camp he took Bouvier and several other Lexington Catholic players to in high school.

When a UK assistant coach stopped by to chat, Letton made sure to mention Bouvier, who went on to finish his career at Lexington Catholic as the program’s all-time leader in receptions (215) and receiving yards (3,156).

“I told him you can go and get any four or five star that’s here and you name the competition and I’ll take David Bouvier and he’ll win,” Letton said. “I don’t care if it’s getting to the top of Kirwan Tower (dormitory) or what it is, but he’s just that type of competitor that he’s going to find a way. It doesn’t matter the size or anything like that. He’s just that type guy.”

Instead of choosing a smaller school where he likely would have played right away, the 5-foot-9 Bouvier elected to walk-on at Kentucky.

He had to wait three years to catch his first — and only before this season — pass in the Wildcats’ 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl loss to Georgia Tech.

As a fourth-year junior last season, Bouvier appeared in four games on special teams, but with the graduation of Charles Walker, a fellow former walk-on who earned a scholarship from the UK coaching staff, and Garrett Johnson the possibility for snaps at the slot receiver position opened this spring.

With four catches for 52 yards in the spring game, Bouvier sent a message he would not quickly be passed over by younger scholarship recruits on campus then followed that performance with his MVP showing in preseason camp.

“I’m really proud of David,” Stoops said. “He’s just a great teammate. He has the respect of our coaches and the players on this team. That’s all any player can ask for: When everybody really looks up to him and looks to him and knows he’s a guy that does things the best he can and maximizes all his abilities and does a phenomenal job in the classroom and out here.”

Gran’s pronouncement that Bouvier was the offense’s camp MVP was met with handwringing on at least one UK fan message board as an indictment of the performance of the Wildcats’ more highly touted receivers rather than a celebration of the former walk-on’s impact.

But with Kentucky winning its first two games while Bouvier leads the team in receiving touchdowns and ranks second on the team in catches and receiving yards, the latter has proven true.

“I just try to make sure I bring it every day,” Bouvier said. “I try to have a good mindset going into practice. Even if I make mistakes, I’m going to make them full speed. If I have a bad play, I’m going to come back, I’m not going to say anything about what just happened. I’ve got to go make the next play and move on.

“… I’ve always believed in myself, knew what I was capable of. There’s no way around hard work. You’ve got to put it in every day.”

Bouvier inherited Walker’s role as Kentucky’s No. 1 punt returner and was applauded by Stoops for his role in saving hidden yardage on special teams in the Central Michigan win.

He is one of four players in the SEC averaging at least 10 yards per punt return this season.

“He caught a whole lot of balls for us (at Lexington Catholic), but there were also times when maybe they took David away and he didn’t get frustrated,” Letton said. “He was such a great leader. If he never caught a ball, he would have been one of our most valuable players based on his work ethic and his leadership and his attitude.”

It’s likely that do-anything attitude that led to Bouvier to let the mispronunciation of his name slide when he arrived at UK.

But now that he’s worked his way from scout team walk-on to a vital part of the Kentucky offense, the Boo-vee-ay pronunciation is here to stay.